My first Etsy Listings!

This is scary and exciting all at once!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6459539

My very first quilt block

Oh boy.  That will teach me to be overconfident!  Hats off to all of you quilters out there.  

I found a quilt shop that is actually pretty close to my house, and lo and behold, they have classes.  Just what a budding fabric junkie needs, right?  Classes to learn to make things with all that yummy fabric that I can't seem to stop buying.  They have a Saturday Sampler class (this is Close to Home in Unionville, CT) where you learn a new technique, or try a new gadget each month, and at the end of the year, you have enough blocks for a quilt.  GREAT!  A block a month.  I can handle that, right???

I started this with two very erroneous assumptions...one, that I can sew a straight line.  HA!  It's much harder than I thought.  And two, that because I like math, and puzzles, I can cut squares neatly with a ruler.  HA  HA!  I may use a fancy shmancy calculator at work and I may be good at fuzzy math, but cutting out perfectly square squares...not so much.

So after much cursing, and sweating...VOILA

 And for those of you quilters out there, you know this was EASY!  The instructions were to make 8 rectangles.  Dear lord...

I'm actually very pleased with the result, given that it's my first attempt.  I'll take more pics once I have the border on my square.  Can't WAIT to see what they have us building next month!

Some of the things that have kept me busy

Whew!  I had no idea so much time had passed. I've made all kinds of cool things, and never posted any of them.  I've also been making a bunch of things to open my shop on Etsy, but never posted any of them either.  So...before I post about the Etsy shop, here are some of the things that have been keeping me so busy...

First, there is the handsome Charles, with his cashmere sweater...he poses like a pro!  Charlie is our sitter Nikole's dog, who both of the kids adore (I mean the dog, but they adore Nikole, too!)

Then, there is the apron I made for my mother in law Kris for Mother's Day...



I love this because it was made from a yellow Mary Englebreit fabric and FREE pattern I got from Fabritopia (which is an amazing website by the way), and the poppy fabric is vintage purchased on Etsy. The whole apron took me maybe an hour and a half. It was only supposed to take an hour, but with kids, interruptions...you know, and hour was kind of wishful thinking. And Kris loved the apron. I will most definately be making more of these.

Last but not least was my very first special order baby blanket. It's made from upcycled felted sweaters, both wool and cashmere. The person who ordered it wanted the baby's name appliqued on the front, and simple, classic colors. The back of the blanket is new flannel, with an owl pattern. These glorious photos are courtesy of my husband.






So for today...I am going to sew up my very first quilt square, from a class I had last Saturday. It's a block a month class, so I want to make sure I'm done early in case I have to redo it.

Looking forward to posting that the first items have gone into the Etsy shop...

I'd love feedback on any of these things.  It's hard to make constructive changes when you're in the middle of making things.